Caramel Salty Popcorn

Everybody loves popcorn… mainly when going to the cinema. Given the current circumstances, a lot of people can't go to the cinema, but we can do a home cinema and not lose the excitement of eating popcorn, with the extra satisfaction of doing it ourselves.

This is a recipe for the whole family, although, be aware that if you are doing this with your children you must be careful as there are some hot elements involved in the procedure. If you are a young person doing this recipe, please ask an adult to supervise and assist you for some steps (we will highlight in the Instructables when to ask for help), and if you are an adult and you want to do this recipe please ask another adult to supervise you!

Below there is a video that shows the procedures and close-up of the Instructables:

Please, we aware that this is my first Instructable. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

- Corn, 160g or 1 cup
- Sugar, 165g or 3/4 cup
- A pinch of salt
- Butter for the pan and a bit for the caramel
- Olive oil for the pan
- Water, 50ml or 1/4 cup

Kitchenware:

- Pan or Wok
- Saucepan lid
- Big mixing bowl (preferably pyrex)
- Tray
- Baking paper
- Saucepan (preferably non-stick)
- One wooden spoon
- Heat resistant plastic spatula
- Measuring spoons or scale
- Butter knife

First of all, you will need to place the baking paper on your tray. If you need to cut the paper first, you can get an approximate size, it does not need to be perfectly covering the tray.

This will help us when we pour the caramel on top of our popcorn, to avoid getting a big ball of caramel and popcorn stuck to our tray!

*For this step you may need some adult supervision*

For this step we will need:

- Olive oil
- Butter
- Corn
- Pan or wok
- Saucepan lid
- Heat resistant plastic spatula

Firstly, we will put our pan on full heat and pour in a couple of drops of oil and a bit of butter, spread this around and wait until the pan is very hot.

Then, pour your corn into the pan and make sure you spread it evenly with your spatula. Cover it with the lid and wait for a couple of minutes. As you can see in the video, we have to stir the corn and lift the lid a little every now and then to avoid the corn getting burned and condensation forming (to avoid the corn getting moist).

After a couple of minutes... pop! Magic should start happening and our corn should evolve into popcorn!

This is a very short but essential step for the flavouring of our popcorn!

After all the popcorn popped, we will put it in a big bowl (preferably pyrex bowl, to avoid the caramel sticking forever on it) and we will add salt to it and stir it to distribute the salt... now we have salty popcorn!

*For this step you may need some adult supervision*

This is possibly the most difficult step in the whole Instructable - the caramel...

For this step we will need:

- Sugar
- Water
- Butter
- Non-stick pan
- Wooden spoon

Firstly, we will put our pan on high heat, once it is hot we will add the sugar and the water.

Secondly, we will stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. We will have to be patient, as sometimes it looks like it may have dissolved but it would take a while to completely integrate with the water.

Then, we will stop stirring and start staring at our mixture to look for bubbles, when it gets really bubbly we will start stirring again, and then we will stare at it once more until we start to see the mixture becomes a golden colour!

Finally, when our mixture is golden-ish we will stir until it becomes our final caramel colour (be aware that at this point it can go from caramel to burnt caramel really fast). Once we have the desired colour, we will take our pan away from the heat and we will add a bit of butter to our caramel, this will give it a better texture.

*For this step you may need adult supervision*

This step is easy but delicate. I recommend not to rush it, otherwise you will get a massive ball of hardened caramel at the bottom of your bowl, with a couple of popcorn stuck to it!

Firstly, we will slowly drizzle a bit of our caramel on top of our popcorn, and immediately stir the popcorn.

Repeat this step until you have used almost all of your caramel.

Please, be really careful not to burn yourself as the caramel will be SUPER hot!

*For this step you may need adult supervision*

We are almost done!!

For this step, you will pour your popcorn onto the tray that we prepared at the beginning. You can use the spatula or the wooden spoon to help you distribute the popcorn.

Finally, drizzle the rest of the caramel on top of it, very carefully.

Please, be patient. I know right now your kitchen smells of popcorn and caramel and you want to stick your fingers in it BUT... Remember that the caramel still VERY hot so, unfortunately you will have to wait until it cools down.

Whilst you wait for it to be cool, debate with your loved ones which movie you going to watch whilst you enjoy your well deserved sweet treat!

Congratulations!

You have waited until it cooled down, you have chosen your favourite movie (or maybe someone else's favourite) and you are ready for a home-covid-safe-movie-night!

I hope you and your loved ones enjoy this treat as much as I enjoyed making it with you!